Kenneth Walker III spent his offseason going from Super Bowl MVP to Kansas City Chiefs starter, and now he's adding trading card pitchman to his resume. The running back stars in a new advertisement for the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game, tying his long-documented love of anime to a new Yu-Gi-Oh! ad just as he helps lead the Chiefs to an undefeated start.
Walker was named MVP of Super Bowl LX while still with the Seattle Seahawks in February, after rushing for 313 playoff yards during the team's championship run, according to the Kansas City Star. He then signed a three-year contract worth up to $45 million with the Chiefs in March, a move confirmed by NFL Network.
According to the Kansas City Star, Walker is a major anime fan who regularly ends his Instagram posts with an anime figure. He has said anime is his thing after everything he posts, telling the Star he began watching Dragon Ball Z when he was about 10 or younger and still considers it his favorite series. He also watches anime on Crunchyroll and counts Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, and Jujutsu Kaisen among his favorites, per the same report.
From the Gridiron to the Dueling Field
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! commercial, which Walker shared on his own Instagram, he wrote that he's “dominating the fantasy leagues, whether it's rushing for yards or choosing the right cards,” the Star reports. The tie-in follows a guest appearance Walker made at a Yu-Gi-Oh! North American World Championship Qualifier, where he spoke with the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game outlet.
That Minneapolis qualifier serves as a primary regional event for players hoping to reach the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship, underscoring the scale of the competitive scene Walker has now stepped into. The game itself, launched by Konami in 1999, has sold more than 35 billion cards worldwide and generated over $9.6 billion in lifetime revenue, according to Magic Madhouse. It also holds the Guinness World Record for the largest trading card tournament ever held, a 2012 event in Long Beach, California that drew 4,364 active duelists, per Guinness World Records.
A Hot Start in Kansas City
On the field, Walker has rushed for a career-high 177 yards in a single game through his first four contests with the Chiefs, helping the team open the season 4-0, according to Heavy Sports. Walker joined Kansas City's backfield after Seattle allowed the reigning Super Bowl MVP to reach free agency, the outlet notes. His college résumé set up that rise: before entering the NFL as a 2022 second-round pick, Walker won both the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and the Doak Walker Award in 2021 at Michigan State, where he was a unanimous All-American after transferring from Wake Forest, per Wikipedia.
Anime Goes Mainstream in Pro Sports
Walker is far from the only elite athlete bringing anime fandom into the spotlight. Olympic gold medalist sprinter Noah Lyles has shown a Yu-Gi-Oh! card to television cameras.
Former NFL running back Jamaal Williams once introduced himself on Sunday Night Football as the “First Swagg Kazekage, leader of the Hidden Village of the Den” while wearing a Naruto headband, as reported by Defector. Cleveland Browns All-Pro Myles Garrett, known for wearing Dragon Ball Z-themed helmet visors at practice, attended the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards red carpet in Tokyo, per The Big Lead.
The corporate appetite behind these partnerships keeps growing. Crunchyroll, the streaming platform Walker uses to watch anime, expanded its global subscriber base from 17 million paid subscribers in May 2025 to 21 million by May 2026, according to Anime News Network. Walker has long shared his fandom on Instagram and now stars in a Yu-Gi-Oh! spot.
